Golden Voice Of Deanna Durbin

Born Edna Mae Durbin in Winnipeg, Canada on 4th December 1921 she signed with MGM Studios in 1936 and changed her name to Deanna at this point. Deanna was to make only one film with MGM, Three Smart Girls, alongside another actress under contract to MGM, Judy Garland, but was dropped soon after by studio chief Louis B Mayer who felt he only needed one female singer (according to legend the studio let Deanna go and retained Judy, although Louis B Mayer intended it to be the other way around). Undeterred Deanna was soon snapped up by Universal and produced a series of hugely successful films that enabled the studio to stave off bankruptcy. Her popularity continued to grow throughout the 1940s until Deanna announced she was going into retirement with her third husband Charles David (who had directed one of her most successful films). The news came as a bombshell as the couple departed to live in France and, despite numerous attempts over the years to coax her back onto stage or screen, Deanna remained firmly out of the public limelight.